http://mmajunkie.comThe first time Daniel Pineda saw a live mixed-martial-arts fight, he walked in just in time to see his brother in a bad position.

Five years older than Pineda, Jose Santibanez had started his fighting career while his little brother was still in high school. One night, Pineda and a few buddies went to see one of his fights.

That night, Pineda’s career began almost solely out of brotherly protection.

“We got there late,” Pineda told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “It looked like he was going to slam the guy, but it got turned, and my brother was on the ground.”

His reaction?

“I wanted to get in there and take the guy out,” he said. “I just saw my brother down and was reacting.”

Afterward, a friend of Santibanez saw Pineda’s fire and asked him if he wanted to try training. Not long after, he became a fighter himself.

A former high school wrestler who was light on jiu-jitsu earlier in his career, the 25-year-old Texas native has rebounded from a four-fight losing streak in 2009 to reach a 13-7 record heading into a Friday night’s Legacy Fighting Championships 7 showdown against Frank Gomez in Houston.

At 5-1 in his past six fights, Pineda now holds three belts and feels he has overcome his weaknesses in technique to continue a career that started when he was 21. In a little more than four years, Pineda has fought 20 times, but he is feeling complete for the first time in his career after boosting his jiu-jitsu.

“We need to try everything because the youngsters really know everything,” said Pineda, who resides in Katy, Texas. “The guys coming up can do it all, so I need to be ready for anything.”

Following older brother

Pineda was born in Dallas but moved to Houston with his family when he was young. The family was of modest means, so Pineda’s main activities involved his older brother.

Both of them were scared of Pineda’s mother.

“Mom was strict, and Dad was the nicest guy ever,” Pineda said. “She told us, ‘I don’t care if you fight, but you’d better win. If not, I’ll beat your ass when you get home.'”

That was motivation enough for Pineda to become skilled at defending himself, at least. As he got older, his brother also encouraged him to participate in sports for the high school. He wrestled for three years, and he also tried football and soccer.

His aggressiveness showed most in wrestling, which helped him find his future competitive path. It happened, again, by staying close to his brother.

Santibanez had his first professional fight in 2001, but his career took a break from 2002 to 2007. He has fought for Bellator and Strikeforce while building a 10-3 record, most recently gaining a win against Rocky Long at a Quality Entertainment show in April.

When Pineda saw the contact in the cage at his brother’s fight, he was intrigued. Then when he was invited to train, he was excited. At first, he wanted just to stay in shape and be able to defend himself better, but then one of the trainers at the gym asked him if he wanted to fight.

“I really just wanted to be able to protect myself in the streets,” Pineda said. “I didn’t know it would be more than that.”

Return from losing streak

In April 2007, at age 21, Pineda accepted his first fight. He took with him mostly his wrestling from high school and a few months of basic MMA training.

The fight seemed almost too easy.

“The guy (Jeremy Mahon) was a pro, and so they said they would pay me to fight, so I thought, ‘Great, sounds good to me,'” Pineda said. “I got him with an overhand right, then it was just ground and pound, and it was over in like a minute.”

A minute and three seconds, actually. Two fights later, Pineda took on a more respected fighter in the area, Kierre Gooch, and that fight went to the second round before Pineda won by submission.

Armed with confidence, Pineda changed gyms (coincidentally, to a facility run by Mahon, his first opponent) and started his career 8-2. But beginning in May 2009, he suffered through a four-fight losing streak that included two first-round defeats.

Shaken, Pineda considered his options. Plenty of fighters are concerned about trying something new because they leave their comfort zone. Pineda looked for exactly that: what was missing in his game.

“We really didn’t have any jiu-jitsu,” he said. “We had Muay Thai and wrestling, but not what could help me with my weakness. That was just killing me.”

So Pineda and the gym went out and got a jiu-jitsu teacher, which turned things around for the Texan. Since losing four straight, Pineda has earned two Legacy Fighting Championships belts at 145 and 155 pounds.

Taking on his discomfort was key for Pineda, a move that others might have avoided because it takes admitting a weakness. With his family support (his once-strict mother lives with him in Katy) and his boosted training, Pineda is hoping to put his tough 2009 losing streak even further in his past.

“I feel way more comfortable standing up,” Pineda said. “It used to be all ground and pound, but now I feel I can do most things.”

Award-winning newspaper reporter Kyle Nagel is the lead features
writer for MMAjunkie.com. His weekly “Fight Path” column focuses on the
circumstances that led fighters to a profession in MMA. Know a fighter
with an interesting story? Email us at news [at] mmajunkie.com.

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